Dinah and the Sisters of Providence
by Twilight Cabaret
Summary: Dinah is sent to a mental hospital, but she's brought a few hitchhikers along with her....
1. Chapter 1

Dinah gave up struggling, stopped straining against the thick straps that bound her wrists to the cot, and quietly dropped back onto the pillow. She saw her aunt's white face beside her, felt her hand clutching Dinah's, and felt the sharp prick of the needle as the paramedic injected her with a tranquilizer. Haldol, how unnecessary, Dinah thought as she quickly got woozy and slipped into a chemically induced sleep. The doors to the ambulance slammed shut, and, sirens off, they pulled out of the driveway of the manor and headed out of Bizenghast.  
When Dinah came to, she was in a strange waiting room, alone, though she could see her aunt behind a glass window, filling out forms. I wish Vincent were here, Dinah thought, her blue eyes filling with tears as she remembered. Remembered why she was there, how she'd screamed until she couldn't hear the cacophony anymore, until nothing mattered. Edrear had taken her home, helped her in through the window as it was so late at night. Dinah had mindlessly gotten into bed, laid down and closed her eyes. Behind her eyelids though, she could see every second of what had happened that night; the screw that had found its way into her friend's chest, piercing his heart and killing him almost instantaneously. She opened her eyes and saw him standing there like all the others, the spectres and spirits that haunted the young schizophrenic, and she gasped. Placing a finger to his ghostly pale lips, he moved slowly towards Dinah, the large maritime screw protruding from his chest, as it had both in her nightmare and the last time she saw him. What to do? Her mind frantically spun. She was used to solving the problems of spirits, but she _knew_ him, he was Vincent, and where were Edrear and Edaniel now? Vincent's ghost had crossed the floor and seated itself on Dinah's bed. Out of habit, she moved her feet to give him room to sit, but he pointed out by floating lightly over the bed when he sat that this was necessary. He didn't say a word, merely sat with her, looked at her, and Dinah looked back. Those eyes, those grey eyes that she had last seen so dead and cold, were again shining and full of life. The silence hung around them for a moment before Dinah broke it.  
"Why are you here?" She breathed, her voice barely more than a whisper.  
Vincent's ghost shook its spectral head.  
"Is this some trick of Bali-Lali?" Dinah tried again, her voice stronger this time.  
Vincent's head again shook.  
"What? What did she do to you--make you do?!" Dinah shrieked, her voice hitting full power. Vincent reached out an arm and gently lay a finger across Dinah's lips. He willed her, be silent, be calm, and she was. Vincent waited for Dinah's heart to stop pounding, for the blood that he no longer had to stop rushing and fueling her emotions. He leaned in quietly and placed his icy lips against hers for a mere second or two, and then faded away; his earthly business was finished.  
This was when Dinah had started screaming and when her aunt came running down the stairs, she found that she would not stop. An ambulance had been called, Dinah now wondered if she'd woken the paramedics who transported her in the ambulance, after all, Bizenghast had only two.  
Her aunt and a nurse came back into the waiting room, where Dinah sat, along, but for a man who looked like he'd seen better days. The nurse stepped forward and said:  
"Alright, Dinah. Welcome to Providence."  
Dinah was numb as she listened to the nurse telling her that her aunt could not go any further and that it was time to say goodbye. She was numb while her aunt tearfully hugged her goodbye, and she was numb as she was loaded into a van that, she was told, would take her to the hospital where she'd be receiving treatment. The van arrived, Dinah got out, and looked at where she'd be staying. She held in hand the small suitcase her aunt had quickly packed for her in the time while they waited for the paramedics.  
The building looked like every old convent she'd ever seen, and she knew that's exactly what it was. The walls inside were institutional green, and the floors were an unattractive tile. When they arrived on her floor, Dinah stood meekly as they shuffled through the contents of her suitcase, flipping through pages of her books, journals, and sketchbooks, and rifling through her clothes.  
"You can't wear that." the woman, Deb, said with an unpleasant look of disdain on her face. Dinah's nightgown consisted of a sleeveless white shift, and she could not see the problem with it.  
"Wear this." Deb said, handing her a sweater from inside the suitcase.  
"You're in that room." Deb pointed to a three person room at the end of the hallway.  
Dinah looked out a window coated with Plexi-Glass to see the sun beginning to rise.  
What the point was in going to bed, Dinah did not know, as she curled up under the covers and tried to sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

Dinah dreamed wildly, her subconscious taking her from one mausoleum chamber to the next, seeking the elusive ghouls and ghosti

Dinah dreamed wildly, her subconscious taking her from one mausoleum chamber to the next, seeking the elusive ghouls and ghosties that plagued her existence with their unrelenting demands. As she sought out the strange creatures that haunted her world, she was trailed by her companions, Edaniel and Edrear, but felt lonely still, and despite Edaniel's relentless chatter, she felt cold, isolated in silence. Vincent

was not there.

This was not the first time in her dreams she had ventured into the depths of the mausoleum. Though it was the first time the journey had not included her

best friend. Waking with a start, she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with a piece of sheet and

gazed at the high ceiling. Did this mean she was

letting him go? Had she lost her best friend?

A knock on the open door snapped her from her reverie,

and she shifted the gaze of her lamp-like blue eyes to

a person in a white coat, who stood smiling cheerily

at her, holding an orange zippered lunch bag. Dinah

merely stared as the woman approached her, edging her

way into the room tentatively, as if Dinah were a

savage beast, prepared to strike at any moment. Rather

than a scared, 100 pound girl with brown curls and doe

eyes, lying on a low cot in a thin shift and blue

sweater.

"Good morning, Dinah, is it?" The woman said, stepping

closer to the bed. Dinah turned over.

"Now, now." She tutted her tongue behind her teeth,

emitting a clucking noise that annoyed Dinah more than

anything else about this woman. She was not an errant

puppy.

Her eyebrows furrowed in a frown, lips turned down,

Dinah stared angrily at the wall, intent upon not

caving into whatever it was the strange new woman

wanted. More footsteps echoed in the doorway, and a

woman who Dinah had heard being called Liz appeared on

the other side of Dinah's bed, blocking her eyelock

with the wall.

"We need to take some blood, Dinah, dear." She said,

bending down to Dinah's "level". For the second time

that morning, Dinah felt as if she were a small

labrador, having just made a puddle on the floor.

Dinah turned back over, facing the woman with the

lunchbox. She was trapped. Her heart began to race,

like that of a caged mouse, and she felt her mouth

grow dry. The claustrophobia that dwelled within her

overpowered her common sense, and despite her attempts

to keep still, she began to quiver and tremble. The

quivering grew stronger, and soon she could hear the

rattling of her teeth chattering, as the other noises

in her head grew stronger. She shook as she looked to

the closet, over the doctor's head. Standing behind

the doctor was a shape. Dinah rubbed her eyes free of

sleep and stared at the shape. It shivered and shook

into focus, forming the shape of a willowy woman,

shrouded in black, even her head. Beneath a black and

white habit, a sinister face peered out, lips curled

up in a wicked grin, almost a leer, directed at Dinah.

The nun smiled, baring pointed teeth that shone in the

fluorescent lights of the room. Her teeth, Dinah

noticed, were tinted a light red, almost pink, and the

lips surrounding them were stained in a similar hue. A

roar began to swell in Dinah's mind, and she knew what

was coming. She clutched her temples, writhing on the

bed. No, this would not happen, no! She realized too

late that she'd shrieked this aloud, barely able to

note the expression of shock on the face of the

doctor, kneeling before her.

"Dinah, it's just a blood draw!" The doctor said

firmly. Silly woman, a voice echoed in Dinah's head.

Had Dinah been in the right frame of mind, she would

have had to agree. How could anyone think such

hysterics were about a simple blood draw?

The dark nun standing behind the doctor drew a hand

from within her habit. The hand was withered and grey,

wrinkled and sharp, the fingernails curved and yellow,

twisted and pointed. Red with blood in places, the

hand was as wicked as the nun herself, and what she

held within it was more wicked still. In her grasp was

a sharp knife, the kind you'd find in a kitchen,

except not. It curved gently, the blade bowing like a

crescent moon, and shining just as bright. The knife

was clean, glistening and beautiful, Dinah could not

help but notice. The nun laughed, and the sound,

perverse and malicious, ricocheted among the cacophony

of Dinah's subconscious. Caressing the doctor's throat

with the cruel blade, the nun smiled at Dinah, teasing

her.

"Shall I? I could end your pain, child." Her voice was

kind, high and sweet. Dinah felt more fear swelling in

the pit of her stomach, of her heart, than she'd ever

felt before, even in the presence of Bali-Lali.

"No!" She cried, thrashing on the bed, dashing her

head against the wooden headboard. "Go away! Please

stop!" Dinah wailed. She felt a strong grip on her arm

and a sharp prick. The needle stuck out of the crook

of her elbow, and the small canister attached to the

end filled with red. The nun withdrew her blade with a

laugh that rang in Dinah's mind and shrouded herself

once again in the darkness of the open closet's

corners. She was gone, but for how long?


	3. Chapter 3

The day passed slowly, one form of therapy after the next. Art, occupational, and group ticked slowly by as Dinah's eyes glazed over, gazing at every clock in every room. After lunch was school, a joke to Dinah, who hadn't been to school in months. The teacher had no idea what to do with the girl, and so placed her at a desk in the back with a notebook, pen, and obscure instructions to "do something". Never one to shirk orders, Dinah did indeed do something.

As the pen raced furiously across the page, Dinah noticed that the inked lines were taking the appearance of the dark Nun from her room that morning. The nun's face was fearsome, even on the lined paper, white and blue. Beside the nun, she found herself sketching the green visage of her dear friend, Edaniel, and the aristocratic one of his brother Edrear. The last of her illustrations was her beloved Vincent. Oh Vincent, she'd thought, where are you now? A search through the mausoleum and several vaults left no stone unturner, but left Dinah in despair for missing her best friend. Where were Edaniel and Edrear? She wondered. Did they know where she was, so far from the mausoleum? Did they some how know what had happened? Ever since Vincent "left", the euphemism that she knew was the only thing her aunt could know of the situation, Dr. Morstan had been back in Dinah's life, dictating medications and remedies that worked only in his mind, and certainly did nothing for Dinah's.

"Dinner." Her roommate, Tina, called to Dinah, snapping her from her reverie. Dinah supposed that dinner would be an ordinary routine, just as lunch had been earlier that day. They would file into the cafeteria, take their seats, two to a table, refrain from speaking to their wardmates and from getting up without permission. They would be offered milk or juice, and the meal would continue in silence until it was time to line up and deposit their plastic plates at the dishwasher.

Dinah took her place in line, but saw something moving out of the corner of her eye, something in the doorway of her shared bedroom. She turned her head, just for a second, and knew instantly what it was she was seeing. A long black robe whipped around the doorjamb, and she heard macabre laughter flowing from the door. No one else appeared to have seen the nun, and Dinah shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memory of earlier. The horrifying creature that she did not understand, and could not fight. Not without Edaniel and Edrear, and not without Vincent. How long would it be before she could return to the mausoleum? A place that had once held little more than a space of hatred in her heart now echoed a sense of home. She knew it, knew the routine, and loved it. It was away from her aunt, away from St. Lyman's, and specifically away from Dr. Morstan. She missed her home, and wanted little more than to return to it. Meeting with her clinician tomorrow would be the first step towards "health and home", but would she make it through the night? The specter living in her closet dissuaded her thoughts of positivity on that subject. Dinah turned her head back to the back of Molly's head, as the line progressed forward. Molly turned slightly, keeping an eye on the staff surrounding them.

"Don't worry." She whispered.

"About what?" Dinah asked, keeping her voice down.

"I see her too."

Dinah was silent.

"Tongue your meds tonight."

"Okay."

"We need to talk." Molly smiled at Liz, who had just tuned into the fact that two of her charges were talking, a rule violation.

"I hope we're having chicken nuggets!"


End file.
